Poisoned Bride and Other Judge Dee Mysteries (21 page)

“One descends the couch, and finds the answer to all past riddles”.

When he had completed his report, Judge Dee went on reading other documents relating to the administration of the district. He felt happy and peaceful, for he knew that at last also this complicated case was nearing its final solution.

The next morning he convened the court, and after some reflection decided to have Hsu Deh-tai brought in first. When he was kneeling in front of the bench, Judge Dee said:

“Yesterday I showed you that I discovered your secret passage leading to the bedroom of Mrs. Djou. You are a man of depraved character, but after all you are a student of literature, and should be capable of logical thinking. You will realise that there is no use in compelling me to question you under torture. Spare me and yourself unnecessary trouble, and confess to your illicit relations with Mrs. Djou now, and state in what way Bee Hsun was murdered. If there is any reason for mitigating your sentence, I shall not fail to consider it”.

“This student”, Hsu Deh-tai said, “was completely ignorant of the existence of that passage. I presume that a former owner of the house had this passage made as a secret storeroom for his treasures. When my late father, His Excellency the Governor, had retired from official life, he purchased the compound in Huang-hua Village, which then also included the house now occupied by the family Bee. Since my father did not need so much space for his household, he sold the small properties adjoining it and the connecting doors were walled up. Thus this passage remained unnoticed until the present day. However this may be, this student did not know of its existence until yesterday. And as to the allegation that I had relations with that woman who apparently lives in the house on left, this I cannot but qualify as a grievous reflection on my name and the name of my family. I beg Your Honour’s favourable consideration!

Judge Dee smiled coldly, and said:

“For a clever student your reasoning is very poor. If this were really an ancient passage, how do you explain that there was not a speck of dust inside? And what about the trapdoor being worked by levers attached to your bedstead, and the bronze bell which could be sounded by pulling a rope over your bed? Your guilt is clear as daylight and I shall, therefore, now put the question to you again under torture”.

The judge then ordered the constables to give Hsu Deh-tai fifty lashes with the thin rattan. They tore Hsu’s robes from his back, and soon the rattan swished through the air. Long before the number fifty was reached, blood streamed from Hsu’s back, and his screams resounded through the hall. But he gave no sign that he would confess.

Judge Dee ordered the constables to stop. He guessed correctly that young Hsu thought that if he bore with these fifty lashes without confessing, the judge would deem that appearances had been saved, and that he would then leave him alone, in consideration of his influential relations. Judge Dee, however, called out to him in a thunderous voice:

“I shall show you what happens to people who defy the laws of the land! In the tribunal everybody is equal, here there is no regard for rank or position. The great torture shall be applied to you!”

On a sign from the judge, the constables brought in a low wooden cross, that stood on a heavy wooden base. Two constables made Hsu kneel down with his back to this cross and lashed his head tightly to its top by tying a thin cord round his throat. His wrists were put through two holes at the ends of the crossbar, and his hands tied securely to the bar, so that they could not slip through. They passed a thick, round pole between the back of his thighs and his calves, and finally laid a long, heavy wooden beam across his lap. When they had reported that everything was duly fixed, Judge Dee ordered them to proceed.

Then, on either side of the heavy beam, two constables pressed it down, using their full weight. Hsu’s knees and wrists were nearly dislocated. One could hear the bones creak. Moreover as his body was pressed down, the cord round his throat tightened and nearly strangled him. When he was nearly suffocated, the headman gave the constables a sign. They immediately relaxed the pressure. Perspiration and blood were streaming from Hsu Deh-tai’s body as a result of this fearful torture, but he could only moan, since the cord was compressing his windpipe. When the constables were ready to press the beam down for the third time, the headman reported to the judge that Hsu had lost consciousness.

Judge Dee ordered them to take him down. They revived him by burning vinegar under his nose. It took quite some time before he regained his senses. Four constables were needed to drag him up from the floor, and he could not help crying out loudly when they made him kneel before the bench. His face was contorted. Two constables had to support him.

Judge Dee looked at him intently for some time, and then suddenly said in a kind voice:

“You need not be ashamed for your inability to stand this torture. This hall has witnessed hardened professional criminals confess on that cross. How could you, a refined young gentleman, bear this pain? I am ready to listen to your confession”.

On being thus addressed, the reaction set in, and Hsu Deh-tai nodded his head, since he could not speak yet.

Judge Dee told the constables to make him drink several cups of strong tea. A deep silence reigned in the hall. Then the faltering voice of Hsu Deh-tai was heard.

“This student”, he began, “now realises, too late, the extent of his folly. It all began one day, when I happened to go to Bee Hsun’s shop to make some purchases. His wife was sitting in a backroom of the shop and she smiled at me behind Bee Hsun’s back. I thought she was very beautiful, and next day I went there again, on the pretext of buying something. Bee Hsun was out and we talked together. Then, one day, she told me that that afternoon she would be alone in her house, her mother and daughter having gone to the shop to help Bee Hsun. That was our first rendez-vous and thereafter we met in her house regularly when the others were in the shop.

“After some time, however, she told me that she did not like these chance meetings, where there was always the danger that somebody would unexpectedly come home. She suggested that I bribe a carpenter from some distant place, and have him build a secret passage between our rooms, since it so happened that they were right next to each other, with but one single dividing wall. By this time I loved her passionately, and so I sent for a carpenter from the south, where my family lives. I used the pretext of having some of my antique furniture repaired. It was he who, at night, built the secret passage for us. I gave him a rich reward, and he left without betraying the secret to anybody. Thus we were able to visit each other without any restraint.

“Soon, however, it appeared that she was not satisfied with this situation. She told me that she hated this secrecy about our love, and said that she wanted to be rid of her husband, so that we could be married. I was terribly shocked by these cruel words, and begged her not to do so desperate a thing. She laughed and said it was just a joke. But on the night after the Dragon Boat Festival, she killed Bee Hsun. That night we had not met, and I learned about Bee Hsun’s death only the next morning, when I heard the laments next door. Realising that she must have executed her wicked plan, I saw her as she really was and my love for her disappeared completely. I refused to see her any more, and for several days was tormented by doubts whether to report to the authorities or not. But I am a coward, and did not dare to do so, since this would have meant an exposure of our illicit relations. Thus I resolved to say nothing, and decided to forget this episode as one forgets a bad dream.

“After a week, however, Mrs. Djou insisted on seeing me. ‘I have’, she said ‘killed my husband for your sake, so that you would be able to marry me. Now you don’t seem to love me any more, so I shall give myself up to the tribunal. I regret that I shall then have to say that it was you who instigated this crime. If, on the other hand, perchance you still love me, we can quietly wait a year or so and then be happily married as man and wife’. On hearing these words, I knew how true our proverb is that says ‘Once one has ascended a tiger, it is difficult to dismount’. Thus I assured her that I still loved her and wanted nothing more than to marry her as soon as a decent interval elapsed. I said that I had refused to see her because I greatly feared that our secret meetings would be noticed, and she be suspected of a crime. She was satisfied, and said with a smile that I need never fear that the murder would be discovered, because nobody could ever find out how she had killed her husband. Later I often asked her how she had done it, but she always just laughed and would never tell me. Since then she insisted that I visit her every other night, and I, my passion for her having changed into disgust, led a miserable life. And later, when Your Honour started the investigation, and when Bee Hsun’s corpse was exhumed, I lived in a nightmare. This is the complete truth”.

The judge slowly reread the document. Then he ordered the constables to bring in Mrs. Djou.

As she was kneeling in front of the bench, Judge Dee briefly summed up the evidence that had been collected against her. Then he pointed to Hsu Deh-tai, who was kneeling by the side of the dais, covered with sweat and blood, and said: “Your lover has just made a full confession, after having been subjected to severe torture. Now that your guilt is thus established beyond all doubt, I advise you to confess, for I assure you that if youdon’t, I shall not spare you torture even more severe than his”. But Mrs. Djou said in a dull voice:

“You may have extracted a false confession from this Mr. Hsu by torture, but I shall never confess to a crime I have not committed. I don’t know anything about secret passages and illicit love affairs. I did not kill my husband. My only desire is to remain a chaste widow for ever after”.

Judge Dee gave a sign to the constables. They took off her robes, leaving her only one undergarment, and then stretched her out on the floor. Having brought in the large screws, they made her lie on the heavy boards with her back, and placed her arms and legs in the screws. When they turned them on tight, skin and bone were crushed, and blood stained the floor. She emitted horrible screams, and when the constables went on tightening the screws, she fainted. They loosened the screws, and poured cold water over her until she was revived. Then they again turned on the screws. Her body writhed in vain in the terrible grip, and she shrieked hoarsely, but she gave no sign of wanting to confess.

Hsu Deh-tai could not stand this horrible sight any longer. He called to her in despair:

“I implore you to confess! Why, why did not you listen to me when I begged you not to kill your husband? It is true that our love would have had to remain secret, but you and I would have been spared this terrible fate!”

Mrs. Djou gritted her teeth to suppress her groans, and gasped with difficulty:

“You miserable coward. You abject cur! If I killed my husband, tell them how I did it! Tell them if you can!” Then, unable to bear the pain, she lost consciousness again.

This clever speech, however, to Judge Dee’s disappointment, failed to impress Mrs. Djou. She gave him a disdainful look, and said:

“I shall never confess”.

Judge Dee looked at her steadily for a long time, debating with himself what other means he could employ to make this woman confess. He could again apply more severe torture, but he doubted whether this would produce results. Moreover he feared that, her body being already weakened by the previous torture, she might die or loose her mind. He was considerably vexed and finally ordered the constables to take her back to the jail. He also ordered Hsu Deh-tai back to the jail, but added that no chains should be put upon him, and that the physician of the court should give him some salves and drugs.

Judge Dee left the court and seated himself behind his desk in his private office. Then he had Sergeant Hoong called in.

“I have”, the judge said, “worked on this case with you for several weeks. We have done all we could, and now, at the last moment, all our labours seem to come to nothing, just because this woman refuses to confess. You have seen yourself that I have exhausted all the usual means; I employed threats, torture, and persuasion, but all failed. I must confess that I don’t know what to do. Let us consult together”. The sergeant said:

“Cannot Your Honour find some clue in the dream? The first part proved accurate in every detail; perhaps the last part can help us to solve this problem”. But Judge Dee slowly shook his head.

“I feel”, he said, “that we should not attach too much value to the last part of my dream. At that time I was ready to waken and the inspiration from on High had become blurred, confused by figments of my own brain. The very last part of the dream, where I saw the corpse and the adder, might be construed as an adumbration of the case of the poisoned bride, but I greatly doubt this. No, just as at the time when I was confronted with that case, we must rely on our own wits in solving this last perplexing problem”.

Then they talked together for a long time. Judge Dee later also called in Ma Joong, Chiao Tai and Tao Gan.

In the meantime Mrs. Djou lay on the bare boards of the couch in her cell, She was all alone. The matron had left her as soon as she had brought in the bowl with the evening rice.

Her body hurt terribly, and Hsu Deh-tai’s betrayal had shocked her more than she had shown in court. “For that man”, she reflected, “I have borne the torture inflicted on me at the beginning of this case. For him I have stood up under all questioning and all vexations. And the first time that he appears in court he blurts out everything! Was my ‘dream of spring’ worth all this?”

Towards night fall the pain in her tortured limbs increased and fever set in. She could not concentrate her thoughts any more, and lay there staring in the dark with burning eyes.

Suddenly she noticed that a cool breeze entered the cell. The musty atmosphere of the jail cleared, and she thought that somebody must have thrown open the doors of her cell. But it was pitch dark and she could discern nothing.

With great difficulty she raised herself on her elbows and looked in the direction of the door. Slowly a bluish light appeared and to her utter horror she saw a large red desk take shape.

She thought in her feverish brain that she had again been dragged to the tribunal in her sleep, and screamed in terror. But then a more horrible sight made her stare in dumb, abject fright.

For in the blue light she discerned the fearful dark shape of the Judge of the Inferno behind the red desk. On his right and left she saw the vague shapes of the Ox-headed and the Horseheaded Demon, their weird animal heads leering at her.

“I have died”, she sobbed, “I have died”. And suddenly a feeling of utter loneliness assailed her. She only felt a hopeless weariness and futility of all effort.

The Black Judge did not say a word. He just stared at her with his still, wide eyes, and the animal heads by his side goggled.

Then a gruesome greenish shape of an emaciated corpse swathed in a stained shroud floated in front of the desk. It turned round its decayed death mask, the eyes bulging from their sockets. Its fleshless hands raised a document in front of the Black Judge.

“Bee Hsun, Bee Hsun”, screamed Mrs. Djou, “don’t report your case. You don’t know everything. Let me speak, let me speak for myself”.

She felt no pain now, only a terrible fatigue, and the strong desire to get everything over and done with. What had her life been, after all?

“Bee Hsun’s shop”, she said, “hardly brought in enough for one square meal a day. What was there to give me happiness? During the day I slaved and toiled in the household and in the shop. At night I heard the nagging of my mother-in-Law. Then Hsu Deh-tai came to our shop one day, handsome, well educated, without a care in the world. I felt a consuming passion for this man, and soon knew that he also was impressed by my beauty. When I heard that he was not married, I resolved that he would marry me, cost what it would. I first made him begin an affair with me, and when I knew that he was passionately in love, I told him to have the secret passage made. When that was successful, I decided that the time had come to kill Bee Hsun. On that night after the Dragon Boat Festival, I made him drink many toasts at dinner. Not accustomed to so much wine, he complained of a stomach ache. Then, in our bedroom, I made him drink still more, to alleviate the pain. At last he sank on the bed in a drunken stupor. I took one of the long, thin needles that we used for stitching the felt soles of our shoes, and drove it into the top of his head with a wooden mallet, until all of its three inches had disappeared completely. Bee Hsun cried only once and then he was dead. Only the head of the needle showed as a tiny speck, impossible to locate if you did not know where to look for it among the thick hair. There was not a single drop of blood, but his eyes had bulged from their sockets. I knew that even an autopsy would not reveal this mortal wound. Afterwards Hsu often asked me how I had killed Bee Hsun, but I never told him.

“Everything seemed safe then. But one day, when I thought that my mother and my daughter had gone out to borrow some money, I called Hsu to my room, giving him the signal by pulling the cord of the bell. But after he had come in by the secret trapdoor, I suddenly saw my daughter standing in the room; she had been sleeping under the covers of the couch in the next room, and had been awakened by our voices. I was afraid that she would say something to my mother, and made her drink a drug that robbed her of the power of speech. After that, I received Hsu when only my mother was out, for I knew that my daughter would never be able to betray me, even if she should understand what it was all about.

“When the magistrate became suspicious, I was called to the tribunal and interrogated for the first time”.

Reflecting on her many fights in court with the judge, and her fears during the exhumation, she became more and more weary, and thought whether it was really worth while to relate all this. The blue light grew faint, the red desk faded, and she sank back into the welcome darkness. The last thing she heard was the doors of her call close with a soft thud.

At this late hour, the tribunal was dark and deserted. Only in the private office of the judge two candles were lighted, and these illuminated him as he slowly removed a gruesome dark mask from his face.

Ma Joong and Chiao Tai extricated their heads with some difficulty from animal heads, made of paper and bamboo, and wiped the perspiration from their foreheads. Tao Gan was hastily scribbling notes on a corner of the clerk’s desk, and Sergeant Hoong came in, his hands and hair wet from a washing; he carried a home-made paper mask in his hand.

“So that”, Judge Dee said, “was how the murder was committed!”